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Sunday, October 31, 2010

To get into the "spirit" of the day, here's a couple of creepy creations from our Founding Femmes!

From Sharon Briss:

"I was inspired by this month's Creative Connection - Only One to make a Halloween hanging using only one stamp. I chose these cute pumpkins from Artistic Outpost. Not only did I stamp them on the squares in black, I also stamped them in Tea Dye Distress Ink all over the background designer paper! Too cute and Only One!"

"To create the background of my Halloween card, I used a TJ technique called Double Bugging. After I embossed the purple c/stock using the Distress Stripes folder, I dragged white ink along the embossed portions. Once dry, I flattened the whole piece by running it through my embossing machine several times. I then embossed this smooth piece of c/stock using the Spider Web folder and highlighted the raised areas with black ink. A spooky image of a tree from Stampin' Up! finished off the card."

Format: 4" x 4" single panel card/card frontTheme: WinterMedia: Any but must include some stampingNumber of Pieces: 4 for 4 (can be identical submissions or 4 individual designs)Sign-Ups/Withdrawals: by November 1, 2010Due Date: November 15, 2010

Remember that you need to be a member of the Gingersnaps Yahoo Group to join the exchange, but membership is quick, easy and stress-free! If you live in the UK, a British Design Team member will receive and mail out your artwork to save you some postage. If you have any questions, please email alimanning@charter.net.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Welcome to our second Creative Connection feature on Gingersnap Creations where we challenge you to take your art and craft it forward! Each month, we will give you an inspiration to work with and ask that you use your passion for papercrafting to create an amazing piece to display on your blog and share it.

The Gingersnapper community is all about showcasing art from our readership as well as from our Design Team so we are asking you to help create a blog web of wonderful art.

We want to see how far our inspiration will spread so for your Creative Connection assignment, you will link to more than just this post! We want you to link to the blog where you heard about this Creative Connection too! We'll be starting a web of art with strands emanating from all our fabulous players!

This month's Creative Connection asks you to create a papercrafting project using only one stamp. You can use that stamp as many times on the piece as you want, but use "Only One".

Once you have completed your Creative Connection art using only one stamp on your submission, upload it your own blog with a link to the blog where you first heard about this month’s Creative Connection and a link to this post with the following text:

“I am participating in a GC Creative Connection. I heard about this month’s GCCC - Only One - from {insert artist name here} of {insert referring blog name and link here}. Why not play along? Post a creation to your blog mentioning my post and the Creative Connection post on Gingersnap Creations. Let’s all craft it forward and see how far we can get this connection to go!”

Then, come back and leave a comment here on the blog post so we can see all the gorgeous art that you have created!

Please note: to participate in this event, your blog post's main focus must be the Creative Connection.

To get us started, Sharon and Helene have created a couple of samples to inspire you!

Now onto our fabulous Ginger Gems. When each challenge closes, we also pick 7 Ginger Gems - fabulous creations that we feel really exemplify that challenge's objective. The Ginger Gems appear in a slide show in the blog sidebar for the entire week, as well as in this wrap-up post, and their creators have the honor of displaying this Ginger Gems blog badge.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Each month of Holiday Happenings, I have challenged you to make 5 to 10 holiday cards based on a specific theme. For October, with lots of references to bats, owls, and other eerie entities over the month, my thoughts turned to the theme "Things with Wings".

Here's some ideas for this theme:

~ birds including ducks and penguins~ angels, fairies and mythical creatures~ airplanes and gliders~ flying insects like bees and butterflies~ or add wings to collage images, heartsor ornaments for some flair

To create my cards, I chose the category of birds from the list above. I loved that I could use this inspiration for both Christmas and Chanukah cards!

As with my other holiday cards, I had two important criteria:~ quick to make~ easy to replicate

Sunday, October 24, 2010

I remember learning this technique when I had just started cardmaking, and it's one of those techniques I had almost forgotten about until I found one of the cards I had used it on, while attempting to tidy my craft room. (who am I kidding? I wasn't tidying it, I was looking for a missing stamp, which incidentally I found in my sewing basket!!)

In this tutorial, I will create the effect of handmade paper from a plain sheet of card (this doesn't really work with paper, it's too delicate)

first choose a sheet of card (I find A5 easier to handle, but you can work with any size)Screw it up. (this is easier if you poke it in the middle, to "break" it)screw it up some more, until it is as tight as it will go.unfold and hold it under running water.screw up and hold under running water again, until the paper is thoroughly soakedopen out and screw up again repeatedly, wetting as necessary.The card will turn floppy and take on an almost fabric feel. it may tear a little, but this only adds to the effect so don't worry.when you are happy with the effect it's time to do some ironing. (it beats ironing clothes, and you never know, if you leave the iron and ironing board out you may just be tempted to tackle the ironing mountain before putting it away.)

turn off the steam and iron until the card is dry, and flat enough to work with.use to make cards!

Step 7: Attach silver Halloween charms with silver cord and you are finished! These are wonderful little books to give as a Halloween treat. For information on where to get the supplies you can contact me directly at: jeffandkris92@msn.com

I hope you've enjoyed this tutorial. Have a very Happy Halloween! ~Kris

Friday, October 22, 2010

I am not known for being a Domestic Goddess, but today I am bringing you a recipe for Lasagne! This technique came about when I was clearing out a kitchen cupboard and found a pack of dried lasagne sheets, disgracefully past their Use By date. I thought that having a crafting medium which is cheap, and can be broken up into irregular shaped (but not sharp) shards, and which is translucent, and provides a flat stamping surface, would have possibilities. I then thought that if I dusted them with a mica pigment powder they might look a little like Faux Mica Tiles! I felt it would be good timing to show you this technique as the supply challenge for this month is Versamark (or other clear embossing ink pad) and this might be a slightly different way of using it.

You won't need anything fancy or expensive, and you probably have most of the items already in your stash. You can stamp directly onto the lasagne, but for this project I have also shown you a method using tissue paper and Gel Matt Medium (or Modge Podge) as this way you get crisp stamped images and the lasagne is a little less brittle. Don't worry if the pieces do break though, as this adds to the charm. I am calling my project, 'Embrace Imperfection' as the stamped quote says, as it is definitely a distressed type of technique.

Just a note about the frame. I used an Ikea Malma Mirror in Black as they are cheap and have a wide frame. I thought I had made rather a lot of mirrors recently so I popped the Stampbord Coaster in the middle and used it as a frame. You could use a stamped paper image or a photo instead if you prefer.

Ingredients

Wide Edged Frame

Versamark Ink Pad

Mica Pigment Powders - I used the Artistic Stamper ones

StazOn Jet Black

Tissue Paper

Gel Medium Matt

Stamps - I used Tim Holtz Mini Muses

Silver Embossing Powder

Stampbord Square Coaster (optional)

Co-Ordinating Ink Pads if using Stampbord

Dried Lasagne Sheets

1. Apply the Versamark thoroughly over the lasagne sheets, using plenty but not applying too much pressure.

2. Dust the sheets with the mica powders, using a soft brush.

3. Break into pieces so you have a pile like this.

4. You can stamp directly onto the pieces with the StazOn or Brilliance Graphite Black like this:-

5. Or stamp a selection of images onto tissue paper like this:-

6. And then adhere the torn pieces of tissue paper to the prepared lasagne using plenty of Mod Podge or Gel Medium, and leave to dry or apply the heat gun. Once dry you can 'encourage' the pieces to break where you want them to with the scissors so that you capture the images you want, but you will get some random edges.

7. Run the Versamark around the edges of the pieces and dip into silver embossing powder and heat with heat gun until melted. Let some of the powder drift across the pieces if you like this look. I hold the pieces with pegs whilst embossing to avoid burning my fingers or you can just place on your heat-proof craft sheet. I also did some unstamped pieces, i.e. mica'd but no images, to avoid the finished piece becoming too busy.

8. Glue the pieces in your chosen position with a strong glue, one at a time to ensure a strong bond. Use pegs to hold them flat and in place until they have dried.

9. To make the Stampbord coaster, dab inks to co-ordinate with the mica colours above onto the tile. Stamp a selection of images as shown. Scratch back to the clay using a Stampbord scratch tool or the tip of a craft knife to add highlights, and in this case, raindrops and a puddle for the man to stand in!

The final pieces. Do add more embellishments or photo corners if you wish.

Hope you liked this, and if you decide to give it a go, I would be delighted to see what you come up with!

Other Articles Which May Interest You:

We've Moved!

After 3 wonderful years of Gingersnap Creations, the Founding Femmes and Gingers are off on new adventures!

As of April 2012, Gingersnap Creations has transformed into a new blogozine, Unruly PaperArts, complete with tutorials, interviews, reviews, and unruly art and articles by our regular columnists and guest contributors. Come play our monthly Reader Art Quests and have your art featured in the next issue of UPA.